Steve Sabins press conference summary: Cal Poly
West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins addressed the media following 12-2 win in the first game against Cal Poly in the Morgantown Super Regional and WVSports.com provides a summary of what was said.
–This weekend is all about winning a series. You have to win two games to advance. It starts with starting pitching and Chansen Cole set the tone early. That’s a really well coached team. Cole is everything that West Virginia is about and it was on full display. He keeps wanting the ball and keeps performing at a high level. Tyrus Hall has been incredible for West Virginia all-season. The players did a good job approach wise. They played good defense and moved their feet better than in the regional. The atmosphere was stupid and it was as good as anything he’s ever seen. They’re in the midst of something special and he keeps saying that every game but he believes people realize that as well.
–Sabins said guys were really grounded today for the most part. You don’t go up 3-0 early unless you are. Last weekend you had about as much action as a human can handle with the amount of adversity and swings. It was a day-game on top of that and it felt like the practices. The intensity wasn’t that high yesterday at practice but you can only get up so much. There had to be some decompression of some sorts and guys were more themselves today. Today was their truest form if a ground ball is hit to you field it and throw it to first base, execute pitches. That’s what experience does for you and he’s excited about the atmosphere that’s been created here because it helps his team handle it. Chansen is a freak. That guy is zen, talk about being where your feet is at his mentality and presence is as good as he’s ever seen.
–Great, you have to win this series. Starting Friday with a win is good. When they grabbed a Friday during the season they felt they had a chance to win the series during the year. The team is so focused and the staff is so focused you want the win but they know what they’re here to do and that’s to win a series.
–Sabins said that half the battle here for the last decade has been marketing. You start winning ball games and you try to put that on display. It’s a special atmosphere, special ballpark and special team. They’ve won a whole lot of games. Sabins said all that excitement starts from a passion for the state and what’s going on. People grow up rooting for the Mountaineers and they spend a big chunk of their paycheck to come in and watch games. He’s thankful for the fans, the President and the Athletic Director for getting behind baseball. Not just the financial commitment but showing up to games.
–Sabins said Chansen Cole is boring in the most beautiful ways. He’s decided that he’s going to go to bed on time and take care of his body and be a great teammate. But ending us to Super Regional isn’t boring.
–Offense is so up and down and timely hitting and the biggest piece is confidence.
–Sabins said they will talk to the staff about a pitching decision for tomorrow. He will get together and make a call shortly. You have to play to win a series but if you don’t win the game ahead of you that doesn’t matter. His approach is to go win the game and attack the day in front of you.
–Sabins said that it’s nice writing a lineup because it goes through his head what are they missing, what’s going wrong when things aren’t going well. In an ideal world you have the fastest player in the country leading off. Armani Guzman wanted to lead. Gavin Kelly is one of the best players in the country and it’s nice to have somebody on base when he is up. All the players in the lineup can be the dude and the No. 9 hitter today hit a grand slam today.
–Sabins said Cal Poly an interesting offense because they swing. They burnt and they force you to play clean baseball. If you can get a lead, they have to sit in there and slug and they don’t have a ton of sluggers over the course of the season. They have them 3-4-5. For us it was try to keep the ball down, induce ground balls and make them string two or three singles to beat you. If you throw strikes and don’t give up free passes that sinker in the zone or double you hit might not hurt you and that was the plan.
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